Mother Dearest
by BeyondTime3
Summary: 'How in the world did Bowser end up with seven children' I hear you unashamedly inquire. Heh… I suppose as the eldest of those kids, I can tell you. Though it's really not a pretty story… do you wish to hear it? [Oneshot- Rated T for death and metaphorical controversy. Anyone have a better title for me?]


**[Time to be _SAD_. *maniacal cackling*  
All characters belong to Nintendo, except Claudia  
*cough* the lullaby is the revised lyrics from a song in the movie 'Prince of Egypt'  
causeit'sfitting.]**

My name is Ludwig Von Koopa, eldest of King Bowser Koopa's seven children and first in line for the throne. Well… if that spoiled brat 'Bowser Junior' doesn't get it first.

Anyway, I'm twenty-two years old now and live in a Darkland base established in the Cloud Kingdom. But, all that information really must not matter to you. I'm sure you're all here to know about _her_. My mother.

Her name was Claudia. She married my father when she was nineteen, but didn't start having children until she was twenty-five… and she was human.

A really beautiful human, I'd like to think, the most beautiful I've ever seen. Maybe that's why father fell in love with her. You see, she wasn't royal or privileged; she was just a regular if not strange human that he had met by chance, back when they lived in the Darklands. Their marriage wasn't arranged like most are in this kingdom, and maybe that's why it lasted as long as it did.

There was always a funny story she would tell me when I asked how they met. My father would always walk in halfway and exaggerate one part, and then she'd roll her eyes and laugh. I wonder how much I remember now; I'll try to recall it for you…

 _Years ago, when the Kingdom of the Darklands spread as far as the eye could see, there lived an unfortunately small young Koopa with a fiery personality. They called him Bowser. You see, Bowser lived in a castle, for he was a prince, so every day he would wander about the garden in boredom because his father never let him outside the gates._

 _On one particular day, when there was significantly less smoke clouds than normal (the equivalent of a sunny day), Bowser was sitting in a patch of fire flowers and minding his own business when a rock hit his head! He jumped up and looked around, bellowing with all his little might, "Who did that?! Show yourself!" His decree was met with silence. Assuming that it might have just been debris from a nearby volcano eruption, he sat himself back down and poked at the petals of a flower._

 _Then, another stone, much bigger than before, landed on his shell and scattered into pebbles. Now enraged, Bowser hopped up from his seat and yelled, "I'm warning you! Try that again and you won't be able to-"_

 _He stopped when he saw a figure perched at the top of the wall surrounding the garden. It waved; face red from exertion and making a sharp contrast to teal blue hair. Bowser stomped over, ready to give that person a face full of fist, until he finally saw in detail that it was a… girl. A human girl, with bright green eyes and long blue hair, wearing a short black dress with leggings of the same color. She looked to be about fourteen, and was staring at the red-head Koopa with interest._

 _"Who're you? And why'd you do that?!" he steamed, rubbing his head where the first rock had landed._

 _"'Cause it's funny," she giggled with a silky soft voice, "And I needed to get your attention, 'cause I can't sneak in or I'd get caught!"_

 _Bowser huffed, "Well you got it alright. What do you want?"_

 _"To talk to you…" she scratched her head, "Or something. I don't have many human friends living near me and all the Koopas don't let me play with them. I came here once and saw you all alone, so I thought I'd come back and see if you wanted to play…?"_

 _"I- uh… I'm not_ _always_ _alone…" he counter argued, trying to cover up the fact that he indeed had no friends because of his isolation, "Wait, why don't the others play with you?"_

 _The teal-haired girl looked confused, "Because I'm a human…? Koopas don't like the humans living here, I thought that was normal…?" realization donned her face, "Oh, it might've been dumb of me to come here, s-since you're a Koopa too. I-I just thought maybe-"_

 _"That doesn't make any sense, though! I haven't met many humans up close, but if they're anything like you then they shouldn't be hated…!" Bowser shook his head, "Some Koopas are jerks. As prince of the Darklands, I demand you come down from that wall and play with me!"_

 _"I- Really?" The girl had already began her decent to leave, but quickly hoisted herself over the wall and cheered, "YAY! Catch me!"_

 _"What-?!" Bowser just barely had time to stick his arms out before a heavy flash of black and blue fell into them, causing him to topple over backwards. The girl quickly climbed off him after the rough landing, muttering, "Oh, sorry! Are you okay? I- uh…"_

 _She stopped when he sat himself up and looked at her, suddenly caught in the way the fiery atmosphere reflected off her emerald orbs. "D-did I cause brain damage…?"_

 _"Your eyes are pretty." Bowser suddenly stated, causing the girl's face to flush to the same shade of red he saw before. "O-oh, thank you…! Your eyes aren't too bad either!"_

 _She was referring to his ruby red eyes, and as she helped him up she added, "My name's Claudia, what's yours? And forget all that fancy stuff, too. Just your name."_

 _The fiery Koopa had straightened himself, about to relate his royal title until his was cut off by her last sentence. "Well… uh, you can call me Bowser then."_

After that, my father would always add that he'd never forget the first grin that he saw on her face. It's a sweet story, I agree, and its end is pretty predictable. They continued to meet in secret as they grew up, falling in love and courting in the later years… and eventually when my Grandfather passed away and father took the throne, he declared that Claudia would be his wife and she was happy to submit to his proposal.

On the other hand, his people were not so happy about the marriage. My mother always left that out of the story, the conflict between the human and Koopa residents in the Darklands that was going on at the time. The Koopa had a hideous but unfortunately genetic superiority complex, and they believed they were better than the humans, who had migrated to the land before the current generation of the Kingdom was born.

Around the time my father was born, small riots and racism campaigns had become an unignorable force. That's why Morton Senior, his father, never let him go outside the castle gates. It was to shield him from the violence and the propaganda that the humans needed to _go_. That's why he was significantly kinder to the lonely Claudia- he hadn't been raised to hate her kind like most young Koopa were.

I'd like to think that since she was my own mother, I took on the unbiased view as well. All my siblings were shielded from that propaganda as my father once was… Not that I'm much for a human mate; that was more my father's own quirk.

Against all the hatred she received, Claudia was a beautiful and regal queen who handled everything with grace and intelligence. Throughout her Queenship, she and my father were both hopelessly in love to an embarrassing point, and I'm sure his people saw this. It slowly created a gap between the Koopa; the ones who saw that peace was possible between the humans and the Koopa and based the idea off of their rulers… and the ones that wanted the humans gone despite all arguments and all evidence.

That divide caused tension, and when I was only eight years old… it broke into Civil War. The ones against the humans overwhelmed the ones who sided with my father, and they wrecked havoc on _everything_. Humans and resistant Koopa were slaughtered, burned at the stake, fatally exiled. Despite my youth, I remember it clearly and still regard it as the event that put the 'dark' in 'Darklands'. My mother… the royal family… was not exempt from this brutality. In fact, I think we were the main target of their wrath…

 _Bowser watched the mob in the courtyard from the safety of the highest tower. There was fire everywhere, even more so than normal. Smoke and embers caked the air but did nothing to muffle the cries of the Anit-Human extremist group, "DOWN WITH QUEEN CLAUDIA! DOWN WITH HUMANS!"_

 _The red-headed King growled, smoke trailing out his nostrils. How_ _dare_ _these people try to override his authority?! He was the sole ruler; they answered to him, not the other way around! He let out an ear shattering roar, quieting the noise of the mob but not getting rid of it completely. "PIPE DOWN!" He bellowed, earning offended murmurs from the crowd of bloodied Koopa. They had just gone through a rampage through the main city, slaughtering hundredths and stopping at the castle for the one human that represented the opposite of what they were fighting for._

 _"YOU DARE DEFY YOUR KING AND QUEEN!? DRAW BACK NOW OR FACE MY WRATH, CRETAINS!" Bowser continued, earning enraged shouts and a more violent attempt at breaking into the barricaded front door. One Koopa with a black shell seemed to rise above the crowd, holding a megaphone and declaring with a loud voice, "His Highness has shamed his people by mating with such an inferior species!"_

 _The crowd followed with a chant, "SHAMED US, SHAMED US!"_

 _"The only way he could redeem himself is if he surrenders the 'Queen'," he mocked the title with a sneer, "To us! So she can be punished for mocking the position of a proper ruler!"_

 _"PUNISHED," The mob roared, "PUNISHED!"_

 _Bowser shook his head, disappearing from the window and descending the tower as the angry Koopas' screams only increased. He cursed his people's hereditary aggression at that moment, realizing his own temper was beginning to flare as hotly as the crowd's. He would have to get his children to safety, protect Claudia, and send the troops to fight the mobs…_

 _"Bowser…? What's going on?" The angelically sweet voice of his wife reached his ears, and the Koopa turned to see the teal haired woman standing tiredly in a doorway. She looked panicked, her vibrant teal blue locks frizzed every which way and regal gown put on in haste. She had only had time to clip on the royal spiked collar, and an infant Koopa with bright red tufts of hair was quietly cooing in her arms._

 _Another child, an elder one with cobalt blue hair, was grasping his mother's other hand and clinging to her dress with fear. Though muffled by the thick stone walls, the enraged screaming of the mob was easily heard._

 _"It's the extremists again," Bowser growled, walking to his wife and protectively wrapping and arm around her shoulders, "They've broken through the gates and are trying to get inside. They're searching for_ _you_ _, Claudia. You need to get the kids and hide in the cellar, Kamella and Kamek will assist you."_

 _He began to walk away, before a shocked and panicked Claudia called after him, "W-what about you?"_

 _"I need to deal with this- just get the family to safety!" He yelled a bit louder than he had meant to and stomped away, leaving the blue-haired woman to shake her head and turn to her elder child, "Ludwig sweetheart, can you go wake up your brothers and sister? I need to go find the nannies, I'll be right with you, I promise!"_

 _The young Koopa, not fully knowing what was happening, nodded fearfully and ran down the hallway, heading to the first door he saw and running into it without knocking. Claudia sighed, cradling the infant Koopa in her arm closer to her chest and running down the hall in the opposite direction. Turning to the left, she muttered, "Thank god." when she saw two Magikoopas heading her way._

 _"Your Majesty! Do you hear the mutiny?" the female one cried, voice sounding hurt by the people's behavior._

 _"I do, Kamella," Claudia bit her lip, "I need the both of you to help me get the children into the cellar. If the mob is coming for me then they'll most certainly come for half-breeds as well."_

 _"O-of course your majesty," Kamek, the male one, replied as he took the infant Koopa from the woman's arms, "I foresee bad events coming- we must quickly get them to safety if we wish to avoid it."_

 _Within minutes, the three adults had joined Ludwig once more along with the siblings he had woken up. With sleepy eyes, they halfheartedly inquired what was happening as they were ushered through the hall. They occasionally stopped to gather the rest of the Koopalings, and soon all seven children were swarming around their mother and chattering about what they thought was happening._

 _The second eldest of the children, Morton, muttered, "I'm scared mama, are we gonna live…?"_

 _That one sentence caused a miniature riot to break loose throughout the group of Koopalings, and Claudia tried fruitlessly to calm them before Kamella practically shrieked, "QUIET!"_

 _By then they had reached the opening of the staircase to the cellar, and the female magikoopa continued sternly, "You'll all be fine if you be quiet and listen to your mother! Now quickly, down the stairs!"_

 _Since a few of the children had just learned how to walk, they were carried down the stairs as the rest of them crawled or ran down. They reached the bottom and entered the musty and damp room, Kamek lighting torches all around them with a flick of his wand and Kamella conjuring up a large rocking crib._

 _Claudia lifted her children into it one by one, placing kisses on their forehead as she did so. Ludwig was the last to be put in, and he resisted letting go of his mother so he could ask, "T-the bad people want to hurt you, d-don't they?"_

 _The blue-haired woman smiled sadly, running her hand through his hair and nodding, "You're such a smart little Koopa, Luddy. Make sure not to waste it, okay?"_

 _"Yeah… of course mom…" he looked up at her with confusion, and she smiled softly once more before beginning to rock the crib and singing a tune for them. The youngest of the group quickly fell asleep, and the middles were beginning to dose off at the sound of her voice. "Can you help mommy out," Claudia broke her melody for a moment, "And rest for a little while Luddy?"_

 _Ludwig hadn't moved from his sitting position, staring up at his mother with wide eyes. He frowned, nodding slightly and laying down, pretending to close his eyes and eventually even out his breathing. Claudia's tune melted away, and she sighed before turning to her two Magikoopa helpers, "Can you show me the courtyard? I need to know how bad it is…" At Kamek's skeptical look, she added, "Please."_

 _With a sigh, he pulled an orb out from under his robes, holding it out enough for Claudia to look inside. The glass sphere quickly began to glow fiery orange, and the blue-haired woman grimaced at the sight of an angrily chanting, blood covered mob. "T-that's bad… I can't hide down here, not with an Extremist group of that size here. Is there any change in the mob behavior yet?"_

 _"No…" Kamella shook her head dismally, "If anything they're pushing harder, and on top of that they're batting away our forces like flies."_

 _Claudia sighed, continuing to converse with the other two. Unknown to them all, a certain young Koopa was quietly watching the spectacle with wide eyes. Ludwig gulped, lowering himself back down to the mattress of the crib when he heard their discussion coming to a close._

 _"There's no other way. I have to end this, no matter what." Claudia stated with determination, the sadness behind her eyes growing when she heard Kamek exclaim, "But your children…! They need you!"_

 _"Please, I ask that you take care of them as if they were your own." She took their hands into her own and continued, "No matter what happens tonight, I want them to know they are loved."_

 _"Of course your highness." Kamella sniffled, quickly embracing her Queen and then turning back to the Koopalings. As Claudia walked over to the bottom of the staircase, Ludwig jumped out of the crib before Kamella could catch him and ran to his mother's side. Burying his face in the skirt of her voluminous green dress, he whimpered, "Y-you can't go mama! They'll h-hurt you!"_

 _Claudia gasped quietly, getting over her shock and blinking away tears as she kneeled down to her child's height. "Ludwig my sweet, as you grow you will learn that…" she bit her lip, looking away as she thought of what words to use, "Other people… matter more than yourself… when your part of royalty. Right now, my duty as Queen is to restore peace… and keep my people, my_ _family_ _, safe from harm. No matter what that might mean for me."_

 _"B-but that's horrible! If that's the way it is then I wanna be more selfish!" Tears began to fall down his cheeks, and Claudia wiped them away with her thumbs before softly replying, "I certainly hope you don't become like that. I want my son to be someone to look up to, and to be loved as much as_ _I_ _love you."_

 _Ludwig sniffled, "I… I love you too mama… can't you stay here with us so I can keep loving you?"_

 _"Luddy, I'll always be here for you to love. Right here," she lightly tapped his forehead, "And here," she moved her finger down to where his heart would be. After that, she scooped him into her arms and lightly kissed his cheek; walking over to the crib and setting him back down. The young Koopa quietly curled into a ball, and Claudia smiled before singing lightly._

 _"Hush now, my babies.  
Be still loves, don't cry.  
Sleep as you're rocked gently…  
Sleep and remember my last lullaby,  
And I'll be with you… when you dream…"_

 _Against his will, Ludwig yawned and watched with bleary eyes as his mother disappeared up the steps…_

 _Claudia sighed, wiping away tears of her own at the top of the staircase and quickly making her way to the castle's main hall. Reaching the throne room, she was glad to see Bowser alive and well- albeit the fact that he was practically steaming with fury as he shouted orders at the commander of the army._

 _"Bowser my love… anger really isn't becoming on you." She quietly mentioned, and he whipped his head around before scolding, "Why aren't you in the cellar, Claw? You're supposed to be h-"_

 _"Hiding, I know." She finished, striding over to him and counter arguing, "But for how long? Until they get inside? Until they storm the castle and find the children and me in the cellar? My love, I know what has to be done, and I know that nobody will like it."_

 _The entire time, Bowser had slowly been shaking his head, getting more vigorous by the last sentence and replying bitterly, "No, no! You are_ _not_ _going to face that mob, they'll tear you apart!"_

 _"Yes…" Claudia pressed her lips together gravely when she heard his vivid description of what would happen, "But then they'll leave, and their reign will be over."_

 _"You don't know that! What if they want the kids too? And giving in to their demands makes me look weak!"_

 _"Put your pride aside for a moment and think about the children!" she yelled, tears beginning to spill out of her eyes and leaving Bowser shocked silent. The teal-haired woman rarely raised her voice, and when she did it normally meant that she wasn't going to have something any other way, "I really don't know what's going to happen, but it's the only option we have! I want my children to be safe, and I want the bloodshed to end- this is the only way it will happen!"_

 _She sniffled, wrapping her arms around her husband as far as they would go and muttering, "I love you so much that I'm ready to die to keep you safe…"_

 _Bowser blinked silently, returning the embrace and sighing heavily. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"_

 _Claudia looked as if she were about to say something, but a particularly loud crash caused everyone in the room to jump and look towards the door. A large and violent crack had emerged in the large stone arches, letting in even more sounds of yelling and chanting. Claudia swallowed down the dread and nausea in her throat, quickly placing a loving kiss on Bowser's lips and then undoing her spiked collar with a quiet snap._

 _She placed the royal symbol in her husband's hand, and closed his clawed fingers around it before turning towards the door and gracefully walking towards it. The fiery Koopa King watched what would probably be the last peaceful image of his wife, the woman he loved to the ends of the universe. Her face with calm, if not a little teary, and her body didn't shake or tremor even once. Her royal gown of green and red trailed behind her in a regal flare, and Bowser most likely would have hollered about how beautiful she looked if the situation wasn't so dire._

 _Two servants reluctantly opened the doors, and Claudia folded her hands together while bowing her head, ready to take on the crowd. The angry Anit-Human mob seemed to be stunned by the doors parting without resistance, but they quickly got over it upon seeing their 'Queen' and stormed in to grab her. They handled the poor woman roughly, tearing at her dress and causing her skin to visibly bruise before she was even fully out the door, their aggressive cheers drowning out any protests the Koopa King yelled at them._

 _Bowser ran after the crowd as he watched his wife being viciously traversed through it, but right at the entrance of the castle the mob was so dense he couldn't follow. Claudia amazingly stayed quiet beyond the occasional grunt, refusing to give them the victory of hearing her suffer._

 _The Darkland King could only watch in horror with tears falling in bucketfuls as a platform was pulled into place and a wooden stake was set in the middle. Various Koopas stepped forward and dumped twigs, paper, and other flammable objects at the base of the stake before Claudia was unceremoniously tied snugly to it._

 _The same Koopa that had made his improvised banter from before stepped onto the platform, holding the megaphone to his mouth and holding a torch in the other hand, "Here we have the very embodiment of an inferior species! It's blasphemous to even think this APE could live among us, let alone represent our Kingdom!"_

 _"DOWN WITH QUEEN CLAUDIA!" The mob roared in reply._

 _"NO…!" Bowser's voice was easily overshadowed by the crowd and his attempts at breaking through the barrier made at the entrance were futile._

 _"All of these apes have been removed from the kingdom, and finally the last of them will perish! This day will be known as the day our race was freed from the incompetence of HUMANS!"_

 _"_ _DOWN WITH QUEEN CLAUDIA_ _!"_

 _With that, the black-shelled Koopa threw the torch onto the pile of kindling, and it instantly ignited in flames. The leading Koopa jumped down as the flames began to lick at the edge of Claudia's dress, and she looked over to Bowser before smiling sadly and shedding a final tear._

 _Within seconds, the fire caught the fabric and consumed her entire body, and the air was filled with her forceful and agonized screams._

…  
After my mother disappeared up those stairs, I never saw her again. I knew she had died, but it wasn't until recently that my father told me what exactly had transpired. Ever since that day he had become far more jaded- he handled his people using terror rather than diplomacy, and for lack of better words he became a 'nasty' person. It only made sense that his children followed suit.

Claudia was a wise and gentle soul who never would have harmed anyone, and that was what my father loved about her. The first time he abducted another woman, the Mushroom Princess, I was shocked and confused until I met her. It wasn't that she looked anything like my mother, though there were similarities, but her soft personality was nearly identical to Claudia's. I knew why father was attracted to her then, and always went through the unimaginable to be with her.  
…

So then, I feel that's all I have to tell. The darkest and the truest of stories, the one about the Koopalings' _mother_.

-END-


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